Media lawsuit filed against CHP and CalTrans

The Willits News photographer Steve Eberhard filed suit in Mendocino County Superior Court last week against CalTrans and California Highway Patrol employees and their agencies for alleged harassment, intimidation and unlawful arrest while carrying out newsgathering activities involving the Highway 101 bypass around Willits.

"Caltrans has received a copy of the lawsuit, however, it was improperly served. We are beginning to review the document to determine how we will respond, but we cannot comment on pending litigation," says CalTrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.

Eberhard was arrested on July 23, 2013 at around 6:30 a.m. in the northern end of the bypass construction zone by CHP officers Kory Reynolds and Christopher Dabbs. Two protesters had chained themselves to construction equipment and a group of 10-15 others brought a banner into the construction zone to protest the bypass. The protest group was allowed to slowly return to an area outside of the immediate construction zone after being read a dispersal order. Two protesters remained chained to the equipment as the sun rose and the protest group remained at the edge of the scene holding a banner. Eberhard arrived at the protest scene about 40 minutes after the protest began. Eberhard walked up to the nearest officer and shook his hand. Eberhard told the officer he had called for a CalTrans escort and was there to photograph the protest. About 40 seconds later Eberhard was in handcuffs.

Eberhard was placed into the back of a patrol car for about an hour before being driven to the Mendocino County Jail to be booked. No protesters were booked that day, including the two persons chained to the construction equipment. CHP officers confiscated his cameras, cell phone and notebook as evidence. These were returned to Eberhard after his release from jail.

The Mendocino County District Attorney's Office found insufficient evidence to charge Eberhard with any crime and refused to prosecute.

"Dabbs' and Reynolds' conduct of arresting Eberhard, seizing his newsgathering materials, delaying the processing of his arrest and falsifying the arrest report to make it appear as though Eberhard refused to leave the property, violated trespass laws, and, if immediately released, would be a continuing threat to the property owner's (CalTrans) enjoyment of its property rights, violated Eberhard's clearly established First Amendment rights and rights under the laws of the United States. That protestors who were there to impede, obstruct and delay the bypass project were read a dispersal order and allowed to leave, and that two protesters who actually impeded the project by chaining themselves to equipment were cited and released by CHP personnel that same morning further shows that Dabbs and Reynolds intentionally singled out Eberhard for arrest in violation of and in retaliation for his exercise of First Amendment rights," according to the complaint.

CalTrans was aware that protesters were being arrested and impacting bypass project construction work during the off-hours, considered a newsworthy topic, and refused to make any provisions, until after Eberhard's arrest, to facilitate media access except during normal office hours.

The 34-page complaint chronicles a series of efforts by CalTrans and CHP officers to allegedly harass, intimidate, threaten and restrict coverage of the bypass construction and protests. Many of these incidents occurred while Eberhard was accompanied on the property by a CalTrans escort or on public property not controlled by CalTrans.

On one occasion, CHP Officer Teddy Babcock allegedly assaulted Eberhard as Eberhard was taking photographs, even while wearing a CalTrans hard hat and vest and being escorted by a CalTrans employee.

These incidents represent a "pattern of harassment of the press by CHP and CalTrans leading up to the July 23, 2013 unlawful arrest of Eberhard," according to the complaint.

Following the arrest, CHP and CalTrans officials attempted to characterize Eberhard as a protester. On August 28, CHP Northern Division Chief Bridgett T. Lott contradicted the CHP arrest report, video evidence, on-site interviews with witnesses and Eberhard's statement of events by claiming in a letter to the Society of Environmental Journalists that Eberhard had been "originally acting as part of a group of protesters, when all other protesters had left the site as requested, Mr. Eberhard remained."

The complaint states "these statements were false and known to be false when stated but never-the-less were published for the purpose of further intimidating and chilling the exercise of Eberhard's state and federal constitutional speech rights an in further retaliation for his legitimate newsgathering activities, including photographing peace officers in the performance of their duties on numerous prior occasions."